“Ariana announced that [Madonna] was in the building and her mom and [brother] Frankie came over to greet her when she arrived. Madonna sat on the edge of the seat cheering with the fans,” a spy told us.

The Material Girl had come under fire after spending nearly 10 minutes talking about herself as an apparent tribute to Franklin during the ceremony.

She fired back at her critics Tuesday: “And just to clarify: I was asked to present video of the year by MTV! And then they asked me to share any anecdotes I had in my career connected to Aretha Franklin!” she captioned a photo with Camila Cabello. “I shared a part of my journey and thanked Aretha for inspiring me along the way. I did not intend to do a tribute to her! That would be impossible in 2 minutes with all the noise and tinsel of an award show.”